Leaving JCPOA will isolate US: Iran official

Iranian government spokesman, Mohammad Baqer Nobakht, speaks at his weekly press conference on September 12, 2017. (Photo by IRNA)

An Iranian official says the historic 2015 nuclear agreement between Iran and the P5+1 group of countries was a deal among six countries, including the United States, warning that Washington will become isolated if it takes any action to walk out of it.

Speaking to reporters at his weekly press conference on Tuesday, Iranian government spokesman, Mohammad Baqer Nobakht, said the Islamic Republic would make a decision in line with its national interests in case of a possible US withdrawal from the nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

He added that such a decision would be made by the entire Islamic establishment.

Iran and the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council – the United States, France, Britain, Russia and China – plus Germany signed the JCPOA on July 14, 2015 and started implementing it on January 16, 2016.

Under the nuclear deal, Iran undertook to put limitations on its nuclear program in exchange for the removal of nuclear-related sanctions imposed against Tehran.

US President Donald Trump, who had made no secret of opposing the JCPOA in his election campaign, has threatened to “tear up” the agreement, calling it “the worst deal ever negotiated.”

Elsewhere in his remarks, Nobakht pointed to the introductory statement by Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Yukiya Amano to the Board of Governors on Monday.

Saying that Amano had made “explicit and transparent” remarks which left no doubt about Iran’s compliance with the JCPOA, the Iranian officials said, “The recent remarks made by US officials about inspection [of Iran’s military sites] are unlawful.”

Speaking at a news conference in New York on August 25, US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley called on the IAEA to request access to Iranian military sites, in what is regarded as an attempt by the US to undermine the multilateral nuclear deal.

Iran has dismissed the request as an attempt to derail the nuclear agreement.

The IAEA has consistently verified that Iran has been in compliance with the nuclear deal since its implementation started.

In his latest statement, the IAEA chief once again confirmed that Iran had lived up to its commitments under the JCPOA, saying, “The nuclear-related commitments undertaken by Iran under the JCPOA are being implemented.”

Since the JCPOA Implementation Day in January 2016, the agency has been verifying and monitoring Iran’s implementation of its nuclear-related commitments under the nuclear deal, he noted.

Myanmar government, army responsible for killing Muslims

Elsewhere at the presser, the Iranian government spokesman slammed the inhuman and deadly crackdown on Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar.

“The government and army of Myanmar are responsible for the massacre and killing [of Rohingya Muslims]. We express our sympathy to the people of Myanmar,” Nobakht said.

He noted that Iranian President Hassan Rouhani had stressed the importance of making use of all diplomatic capacities to solve the ongoing crisis in Myanmar and during his visit to Kazakhstan’s capital of Astana last week, had called on Muslim countries to launch a probe into the case.

Addressing the first Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) summit on science and technology in Astana on Sunday, Rouhani said the Muslim world felt the need for solidarity and unity more than ever as it was grappling with multiple crises, such as Israeli crimes against the Palestinians, atrocities by Buddhist extremists against Rohingya in Myanmar, humanitarian catastrophes created by extremist groups in Syria and Iraq and the continuation of the Saudi war on Yemen.

On the sidelines of the Astana OIC summit, the participants held an emergency meeting on the latest condition of the Rohingya Muslims amid the fresh wave of violence against the minority group and issued a statement.

The OIC senior leaders urged swift action to put an immediate end to the ongoing brutal violence in Myanmar and called for cooperation among Muslim countries aimed at dispatching humanitarian aid to the oppressed Rohingya and attending to the condition of the refugees.

Myanmar’s forces have been attacking Rohingya Muslims and torching their villages in Rakhine state since October 2016. The attacks have seen a sharp rise since August 25, following a number of armed attacks on police and military posts in the troubled state.

The latest spate of violence in Rakhine state has killed more than 1,000 people, according to the UN.

The world body has described the Rohingya as the most persecuted community in the world.